suziandben

1) Where are you from? At the time we adopted through abrazo (in 2008) we were living in Salem, Oregon. We now live in Wenatchee, WA. Originally I'm from northern California and Ben is from Seattle. 2) Is there an Abrazo alumni group in your area that gathers once a year or more, and do you participate? Ben & I gather daily as much as can! Hee hee hee. There is no one ANYWHERE near us however we did move to Loriahn's hometown of Wenatchee so maybe someday she will stop on by. The other close call was when Matt & Betsy vacationed in Bend Oregon but they were still 2 hours away from us in Salem. The next closest families are probably 10 hours away. 3) How many adoptions have you completed through Abrazo? One through abrazo, one through an agency in spokane washington 4) Is your family finished, or is there room for more? If so, how many more in your opinion (spouse's input aside, ha!) I'm so unbelievably sleep deprived right now that I was "happy" with 2 stretches of 3 hours of sleep last night. More babies is an off limits topic at present. 5) What is (or was) your Friday night fear the second (or third) time around? I didn't want to seem greedy - here we already hit the jackpot once, we were at orientation with our adoption agency in spokane when collin was 12.5 months old. I was hoping the other couples would not think us freaks for wanting to get to know them and be friends. I was worried about how we would pay for the 2nd adoption so soon. Mostly I KNEW God had a plan for our family. I felt a little spirit telling he needed to be in our family and it was so ratifying of those feelings that we miraculously got into orientation at the last minute. 6) Are/were you more open to new adoption information/concepts the first time you adopted, or the next time around? I had more trust that God had a plan for us. I was concerned about differences in procedural format of our wa agency. anytime something is different that gets scary. I felt great peace that we were on the right path and that the minor details of the journey would be right as well. 7) How did/does contact with your child/ren's birthfamily/birthfamilies impact you/your parenting style/your family? I'm always worried about whether our son's birthparents will view us as good parents. I want them to be happy for ever and always that they chose us. In the end the things that matter the most I will do regardless of what the birthparents may think. my son's birthmom questioned whether we were too committed to our faith in going to church every week and such. There's no way that kind of comment would impact me. I am who I am, what's important to me is important to me and my son's birthfamilies picked us knowing who we are and picked us for who we are. 8) What one thing would you change about Abrazo, if you could? (You're veterans, so you're entitled to speak up! LOL) If I could change just one thing about our adoption of collin through abrazo it would be that I wish we had finalized "on time" at 6 months of age. All medical had been paid, we were totally on time with monthly reports, post placement visits, fees, etc. The rest of our journey to collin with abrazo was great!

Congratulations what a great testament to sticking to your faith in God's plan for your family.

Dyna I was thinking of Michael's parents colleen & ? (the 1? year old placed summer 2008), the twins parents (joaquin & sienna), and a few others that were all in the same orientation group live in Austin... was that 3x5? I can't remember - man how time flies!

"tara&eric" are from austin and several families from the 3x5 orientation group from 2008 or 2007. search for tara&eric the forum member or go to amigos thread in the forum and find 3x5 group but i think tara is your best bet as 3x5 group i think is pretty quiet on the forum.

Congratulations baby Luke!

very exciting!!!!!!

My brain is not in place tonight to debate the harsh realities and moral injustices etc etc... tonight I read this from the entire standpoint of an exhausted mom who needed a good laugh and boy did this deliver. I thought this was hilarious - totally inappropriate humor and hilarious. name the dog and the kid the same name???? husband plays catch by himself in the back yard???????? Why is he picking the ball up himself when the dog could do that for him?

"dear birthmother" is another one. i read that one in between baby 1 and baby 2 (both open adoptions) and found it to be old news at that point for me but kicked myself for not reading it 5 years prior when we started our 1st adoption journey.

Congratulations all!!

Congratulations coos!

Having had a real miracle in our life in November 2008 (and watching another miracle unfold in my life today) I love this topic and am a firm believer in two sayings. (1) Go boldy in the direction of your dreams and (2) Jump and the net will appear Before collin we: - went to birthing & newborn care class - went to infant cpr class - built the nursery, stocked the nursery with EVERYTHING needed - bought clothes - washed all the baby clothes we had purchased over 10 YEARS - packed the baby's suitcase for texas, zipped it up ready to go - bought a car seat and box to check it as luggage - found a cat sitter for our time in texas and gave her the key ahead of time - left my very stressful no time for children job - setup my business so that i could leave home at a moment's notice without missing a beat (laptop, aircard, fax to email account etc) - registered at babies r us and target while yes baby parker is here, the legal stuff isn't done yet so we're still "expecting" - but before we matched with his mama we: - repacked the suitcase - bought a basinet since collin is still in the crib - bought little brother, big brother shirts - closed my cpa practice in anticipation of being too busy with two kids - etc etc (I didn't register because with a boy I don't know what i would put on the list except diapers and formula - though I am shopping for a sling and a double stroller) Believe friends believe and go boldy in the direction of your dreams!!!!

That is hilarious!!!! Thanks for sharing. Well okay it's not all that funny because all I can think about is my time is coming all too soon!

A "real" man would not be so scared of the people who made him what he is today (a father).

AWESOME NEWS!!!!!

Still here cheering cheering cheering for you Rebecca! Sending you prayers for great things in 2010 and NO CANCER!

Congratulations to the newest Coo parents!

Brent and Lynn we are so happy for you. Congratulations! And many blessing to a very special first mama.

Indeed missed... Merry Christmas Mari!

For us also it had been 3 or 4 years since we had discontinued all infertility treatments. We just sent in the most blaringly obvlivious infertility test we had and we wrote a note on the page indicating we had terminated treatments.

Sadly, I don't think this is extremely unusual. The one piece of this story that makes it unusual is that legal papers were signed. I've seen this kind of story play out a number of times with childhood friends, my BIL's nephew, and cousins of ours. It's just not cool how much havoc the kids are put through.

An againers weekend sounds very exciting! I also agree Sue's comment about how much newbies gain from againers. Some of my most vivid memories of orientation weekend are of Susan Marmagas coming across the room to us after friday night - literally reaching out, telling us that we had been heard, that we weren't alone and helping us find our way in that new chapter of our adoption journey. Then Saturday she gave me a personal tutorial of the forum. These things meant SO much to me. (Thank you dear friend.)

I don't have any particular words I'm just SO enjoying this beautiful miracle for Andy & Jill. Many congratulations! the Gradens

My heart is SO full for the new families of 3!!! Mark and Erin and Ric and Teresa give those babies a snuggle from Auntie Suzi. We are so happy for you and excited to hear this news.

Your writing so vividly takes me there that after this latest installment I feel like I'm spinning. I read your recent updates that Lauranda is again dealing with health ?????'s. I sure hope and pray that all is well.